Swindling cases against contractor, bank officials in Ramanathapuram

The District Crime Branch (DCB) police have registered cases against a contractor and four bank officials, including the Deputy General Manager of Union Bank of India, on charges of ‘swindling’ Rs. 29 lakh.

The DCB registered the cases based on a complaint given by K.Murugan (60), a Public Works Department (PWD) contractor, who was awarded a contract in 2008 by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) for building a guest house at Olaikuda in Rameswaram at a cost of about Rs. 29 lakh.

Police said Murugan had allowed Sankar Anand, a sub-contractor to build the guest house and the latter had received cheques for about Rs. 29 lakh by forging his signature and had transferred the amount to his account, allegedly in collusion with the bankers.

Mr. Murugan chose to lodge a complaint only on July 9, after a gap of four years, after he failed to obtain the money by other means, police said.

Police said Sankar Anand soon after taking up the project, had received a cheque for Rs 6.75 lakh on March 28, 2008 and two more cheques on June 15, 2009 for Rs. 29 lakh after forging the signature of Murugan.

The then Tirupparankundram (Madurai) Union Bank of India branch managers Anbazhagan, Balasubramanian, Deputy General Manager D.G.John at the bank’s regional office in Madurai and the present Tirupparankundram branch manager L.K.Kubendran had entered into a criminal conspiracy with Anand and committed the fraud, the police said.